Access-control equipment and itemdispensing systems including such equipment



United States Patent [72] Inventors Geoffrey Ernest Patrick ConstableCheltenham, England; Graeme E. Cullen, Castle Douglas, Scotland; RichardSwarbrick, Glasgow,

Scotland [21] Appl. No. 710,601

[22] Filed March 5, 1968 [45] Patented Dec. 1, 1970 [73] Assignee SmithsIndustries Limited London, England, a British Company [32] PriorityMarch 6, 1967 [3 3] Great Britain [54] ACCESS CONTROL EQUIPMENT ANDITEM;

DISPENSING SYSTEMS INCLUDING SUCH EQUIPMENT 26 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. CI 194/4 [51] Int. Cl G07f 1/06 [50] Field of Search 194/4;221/2 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,401,830 9/1968Mathews 221/2 3,443,675 5/1969 Yamamoto et al. 194/4 PrimaryExaminer-Stanley Tollberg Attorney Hall, Pollock and Vande SandeABSTRACT: A money-dispensing system dispenses a pack of money inresponse to a bank customers punched card and keyed entry of hispersonal identification number, only if that number equals the numericalresult of summation without carry of numbers read from the card.Admission of a card to the equipment is barred unless it has apredetermined hole distribution along a leading edge, and dispenseroperation is inhibited unless the entered card satisfies a magneticauthenticity check.

ACCESS-CONTROL EQUIPMENT AND ITEM- DISPENSING SYSTEMS INCLUDING SUCHEQUIPMENT This invention relates to access-control equipment anditem-dispensing systems including such equipment.

The invention is especially concerned with access-control equipment ofthe kind that selectively enables access to a facility, under control ofa coded token. The coded token may, for example, be in the form of apunched card, each person authorized to make use of the facility beingissued with such a card for presentation to the equipment when access isrequired.

According to the present invention, access-control equipment forselectively enabling access to a facility, comprises first means forreceiving a coded token presented to the equipment and for reading fromthe received token a plurality of numbers encoded thereon, second meansfor entering into the equipment a further number, third means that isselectively operable for enabling access to said facility, and fourthmeans that is arranged effectively to compare the numerical result of apredetermined arithmetical operation involving said numbers read fromthe token with the said further number entered into the equipment, saidfourth means being arranged to operate said third means as aforesaid independence upon whether a predetermined correspondence exists betweensaid numerical result and said further number.

The numbers read from the token may be plural-digit numbers thattogether relate to the identity of the particular person to whom thetoken has been issued, and said predetermined correspondence may bearranged to exist, and access to said facility may be enabled, only ifsuch person is also identified by a plural-digit number entered into theequipment manually. This arrangement has the advantage of increasedsecurity over certain prior access-control equipment (for whichpresentation of an appropriately encoded token is normally all that isrequired in order to gain access to the relevant facility) since thegaining of access in these circumstances is conditional not only uponthe presentation to the equipment of an appropriately encoded token, butalso upon manual entry of the corresponding plural-digit or othernumber. The possibility of the token being used fraudulently is reducedby having the information as to identity encoded in a form (a pluralityof separately encoded numbers that are together dependent upon theparticular arithmetical operation used) that will not readily allow thecorresponding plural-digit or other number to be deduced from the tokenalone or by comparison of the token with other similarly encoded tokens.

With the present invention, the number that it is necessary to enterinto the equipment inorder to secure the required correspondence isdependent not only upon the numbers encoded on the token used, but alsoupon the arithmetical operation performed upon them within the equipmentitself.

Thus, even if the decoding appropriate to the individual numbers encodedon the token is deduced or becomes known in some other way, it is stillnot possible to deduce the number that needs to be entered into theequipment in order to gain access; it is also necessary to haveknowledge of the computation or interaction upon one another of thesenumbers that is involved in the arithmetical operation performed withinthe equipment as the basis for comparison with the separately enterednumber. v

The access-control equipment may be arranged to enable selectively,access to any form of-facility, for example, entry to a restricted area,use of a service, or withdrawal of an item or product (in predeterminedor selected quantity). One particu lar application of the equipment isin the field of banking where money-dispensing systems are provided foruse by customers at all times, the customers being issued withindividual coded tokens for presentation to any one of the dispensingsystems when withdrawal of money is required. The equipment of thepresent invention in this latter connection may be arranged to control amoney dispenser so that money (for example, in banknote form) isdispensed to the customer in response to each requestfor withdrawal, arequest in this context being the combination of the presentation to theequipment of the customers token and entry of an appropriate number intothe equipment. The system is preferably arranged such that the sameamount of money, in the form of a single banknote or a pack ofbanknotes, is dispensed as a single item upon each request.

According to a feature of the present invention, an itemdispensingsystem comprises means for receiving a coded token presented to thesystem and for reading from the received token a plurality ofplural-digit numbers encoded thereon, means which is operable manuallyfor entering into the system a plural-digit number, the particularnumber entered being dependent upon manual selection, itemdispensingmeans which is selectively operable to dispense from a reserve of itemsat least one such item upon each operation of the item-dispensing means,and comparison means arranged effectively to compare the numericalresult of a predetermined arithmetical operation involving said numbersread from the token with the said number entered into the system, saidcomparison means being arranged to operate said item-dispensing means todispense at least one of said items as aforesaid in dependence uponwhether a predetermined correspondence exists between said numericalresult and said number entered into the system.

The means for entering a plural digit number manually may include tenkeys (for example, pushbuttons) numbered 0 to 9 that are operable one ata time to enter the digits of the relevant number in ordered sequence.As an alternative, such means may include a dial mechanism comparable toa telephone dial, the relevant digits being entered, in order, bysequential dialing operations.

The arithmetical operation may be an additive combination of the numbersread from the token, and in this respect may be summation without carryof those numbers. The comparison means may be arranged to compare digitby digit the numerical result of the additive combination with theplural digit number entered manually. There may be, for example, Ndecimal numbers each of M digits (where M and N, which may be equal, areboth integers greater than unity) read from the token, and in thesecircumstances the comparison means may include means for performing asubtraction process in respect of each digit of an M-digit decimalnumber that is entered manually one digit at a time in ordered sequence.The subtraction process may be a process in which there is subtractedfrom the value of the relevant entered-digit the values of N decimaldigits that in the N decimal numbers respectively occupy one and thesame digital places concerned being dependent upon the order of theentered digit in the entry sequence. In these circumstances it may bearranged that operation of the item-dispensing means is enabled only inthe event that the result of each of the M subtraction processes iszero.

An item-dispensing system in accordance with the present invention willnow be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the form of a coded token used with the itemdispensingsystem;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of part of the itemdispensingsystem used for receiving and selectively admitting coded tokens to thesystem; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of electronic circuits forming partof the item-dispensing system and used in conjunction with thearrangement of FIG. 2.

The system to be described is for use in dispensing packets ofbanknotes, one at a time, to customers of a bank, and is forinstallation at a branch of the bank to be accessible after. as well asduring, normal banking hours. The customers authorized to use the systemare each issued with one or more coded tokens in the form of plasticscards punched with holes. Each card carries numerical informationidentifying the customer to whom the card has been issued, suchinformation being encoded on the card by the presence and absence ofholes in predetermined positions on the card. The customer is informedof his personal identification number, but the encoding of this numberon the card is such that it cannot be readily deduced from the punchedcard itself. When the customer wishes to withdraw a packet of banknotes,he simply presents his punched card to a card reception unit of thesystem and operates a set of ten pushbuttons in accordance with hispersonal identification number. The system retains the card and inreturn automatically dispenses to the customer one packet of banknotes.The packet of banknotes is dispensed to the customer from a dispenserthat holds a supply of such packets, the dispenser being released todispense the packet only after the validity of the transaction has beenchecked. in this latter respect the system checks the authenticity ofthe card and then that the number inserted manually by the customer isthe same as the personal identification number encoded on the card.

Referring to FIG. 1, each card is formed by a rectangular substrate 1 ofopaque plastics material that carries a magnetic coating 2 on itsobverse face (the coating may be sandwiched between two plasticssheets). In addition to holes 3 punched through the card to encode theappropriate personal identification number, there is a set of threeholes 4 that are punched through the card at spaced intervals from oneanother across the width at one end 5. The magnetic coating 2 involvestwo magnetic oxides of highand low-coercivity, respectively, themagnetic oxides being provided either in separate layers, with the layerof high-coercivity material extending in a band across the width ofthesubstrate 1 beneath the other layer, or as an admixture of the twomaterials. A series of pulses is recorded in the high-coercivitymaterial, the individual pulse recordings being made at positions withinthe coating 2 spaced from one another lengthwise of the card. Forsecurity purposes, the low-coercivity material carries a magneticrecording that extends over substantially the whole area of the coating2 and serves to provide noise masking the pulse recordings from easydetection. 7

The authenticity of each card presented to the system is checked,firstly by detecting whether the card has appropriately located holes 4,and then be detecting whether it carries an appropriate series of pulserecordings in the coating 2. These checks are performed by the cardreception unit represented in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, the card reception unit has a facia 10 that ismounted in an external wall of the bank, and has a readily accessiblemouth 11 for receiving the customers card. The mouth 11 within the unitconverges to a throat portion 12 that is normally blocked at its far endby a movable shutter 13.

-' for the card to pass through the portion 12 into a guideway 16 thatleads to a card reader 17. The shutter 13 remains in this open positiononly so long as the solenoid 14 is energized, and

is otherwise returned and held by the spring bias in the closed positionin which the way into the guideway 16 is blocked.

The customer presents his card to the card reception unit by insertingthe end into the exposed mouth 11 with the coating 2 uppermost. The end5 is inserted through the mouth 11 into the throat portion 12 to abutthe closed shutter 13. in this position of the card, the set of holes 4lie beneath lamps 18 (of which only one is shown) that are continuouslyenergized to direct light downwardly across the throat portion 12towards individual photoelectric cells 19. The photoelectric cells 19(of which only one is shown) are disposed at spaced intervals from oneanother across the width of the throat portion 12, and, until a card isinserted in the throat portion 12, each cell 19 receives light from itsassociated lamp l8 and in response thereto supplies an electric signalto an electrical gating unit 20. Y i

The unit 20 is responsive only to the-condition in which signals aresupplied by a certain combination of three of the photoelectric cells 19and not by the remainder. This condiappropriately located holes 4 ispresented to the card-reception unit with the end 5 leading and with thecoating 2 uppermost, light passing to the three cells 19 through theholes 4, and being obstructed in its passage to the remainder by theabsence of holes 4 elsewhere across the width. Response of the gatingunit 20 to this condition is, however, effective to produce an outputsignal from the unit 20 only in the circumstances in which an enablingsignal is present .on a lead 21 from the dispenser (not shown in FIG. 2)of the system. The dispenser supplies the enabling signal to the lead 21only so long as there is still a packet of banknotes available in thedispenser. If no enabling signal is present on the lead 21, there is nooutput signal from the unit 20, and an EMPTY sign (not shown) on thefacia of the card reception unit is illushown) throughout any period forwhich the enabling signal is tion exists only when a card with thecorresponding number of absent from the lead 21, so as to warn customersthat the system is not operative. The absence of the enabling signal atthe unit 20 has the effect of inhibiting operation, since the system isthen incapable of responding even when presented with an authentic card.

When there is response of the unit 20 in the presence of the enablingsignal on the lead 21, the output signal supplied by the unit 20 ispassed to switch ON a switch unit 22 that controls the supply ofelectrical energization current to the solenoid 14. The output signal isalso supplied to switch ON a switch unit 23, to engage a clutch 24, andto start operation of a timer 25. The switch unit 23 controls the supplyof electrical energization current to a reversible electric motor 26,the motor 26 being coupled through the clutch 24 to drive three cardtransport rollers 27 to 29 that project into the guideway 16 at spacedintervals therealong. The switching ON of the units 22 and 23 serves toenergize both the solenoid 14 and motor 26, with the result that theshutter 13 moves upwardly to admit the card through the gate aperture 15into the guideway 16, and the rollers 27 to 29 rotate in their forwardsenses indicated by the arrows F. The card admitted through the gateaperture 15 is fed by the customer into the guideway 16 until theleading end 5 reaches the rotating roller 27. An idling roller 27 isurged resiliently and downwardly into contact with the roller 27 so thatwhen the end 5 reaches the roller 27 the card is drawn lengthwisecompletely into the card reception unit. The card is drawn in betweenthe rollers 27 and 27' to be fed along the guideway 16 towards therotating roller 28. The end 5 eventually enters between the roller 28and an associated idling roller 28 that is urged resiliently anddownwardly into contact with the roller 28. The card is accordinglydrawn lengthwise from the rollers 27 and 27' and is passed further onalong the guideway 16 towards the rotating roller 29 positioned at theentrance to the card reader 17.

The card, in its passage along the guideway 16 from the roller 27 to theroller 28 and thence from the roller 28 towards the roller 29, passessuccessively beneath a magnetic recording head 30 and a magnetic readinghead 31. The head 30, which projects into the guideway 16 adjacent theroller 27, is energized with alternating current that is supplied from asource 32 to erase the noise which in an authentic card is recorded overthe pulse recordings in the coating 2. The frequency and amplitude ofthis alternating current are so chosen that the magnetic flux producedby the head 30 is well capable of erasing the noise recorded in thelow-coercivity material, but is nonetheless insufficient to affect thepulse recordings recorded in the high-coercivity material.

The erasure of the noise masking the pulse recordings enables theserecordings to be read from the coating 2 by the head 31. The head 31projects into the guideway 16 adjacent the roller 28, and as the card isfed lengthwise from between the rollers 28 and 28, so the pulserecordings of the authentic card are sensed in turn by the head 31. Thesensed pulse recordings give rise to a series of pulse signals from thehead 31, and these pulse signals are passed from the head 31 to a coderecognition unit 33 where they are counted. The unit 33 detects whetherthe number of pulse signals counted is the same as the number of pulserecordings provided on each authentic card, and then only if it is,provides on a lead 34 an output signal indicative of this fact. Thisoutput signal, the existence of which (as explained later) is anessential for release of the dispenser to dispense a packet ofbanknotes, persists after the card has passed on to the roller 29 anduntil the unit 33 is eventually reset.

The card in being driven by the roller 28 from the head 31 towards theroller 29, strikes a leaf spring 35 that projects upwardly through aslotted opening 36 in the bottom of the guideway 16. The leaf spring 35is sprung to incline forwardly across the path of the card and so as tobe deflected downwardly by the card in passage of the card along theguideway 16 to the roller 29, the deflected spring 35 effectivelyblocking entry to the opening 36. At the roller 29 the leading end 5 ofthe card is drawn in between the rotating roller 29 and an associatedidling roller 29 that is urged resiliently and downwardly into contactwith the roller 29. The card is accordingly drawn lengthwise through therollers 29 and 29' so as to pass into the card reader 17. From theroller 29 the card passes onto a bed 37, and beneath a head 38, of thecard reader 17. The card is driven by the roller 29 so that the end 5passes along the full length of the bed 37 to strike a plunger 39located at the far end of the bed 37. The drive provided on the card bythe roller 29 urges the plunger 39 backwardly against a spring 40 toactuate a switch 41.

Actuation of the switch 41 causes an electric signal to be supplied fromthe switch 41 to switch OFF the unit 22 and to terminate operation ofthe timer 25. The switching OFF of the unit 22 breaks the supply ofenergization current to the solenoid 14 with the result that the shutter13 closes. The timer 25 is arranged to supply a signal to the unit 22 tohave the same effect as this, in the event that a preset period ofoperation of the timer 25 expires before receipt of the signal from theswitch 41. In this latter respect, the timer 25 is preset to run for aperiod adequate to allow the card to be transported along the guideway16 into the card reader 17 Operation of the timer 25 to run for thisperiod is started, as referred to above, by the output signal from thegating unit 20 immediately preceding admission of the card to theguideway 16. If within this period there is no signal from the switch 41(that is to say, if there is no signal to signify that the card hasentered the card reader 17), then the timer suppliesan output signalthat has the effect of inhibiting further operation of the system. Thisoutput signal from the timer 25, as well as being supplied to the unit22 to result in closure of the shutter 13, is supplied to disengage theclutch 24, and also to switch OFF the unit 23 and thereby breakenergization of the motor 26. The operation of the timer 25 to producethis output signal is inhibited however, when in the normal course ofevents there is actuation of the switch 41 before expiry of the presetperiod.

The signal supplied to the timer 25 and unit 22 upon actuation of theswitch 41, is also supplied to disengage the clutch 24 and to engage asecond clutch 42. Disengagement of the clutch 24 breaks drive from themotor 26 to the rollers 27 to 29, so that once the switch 41 is actuateddrive to the card ceases. The card is restrained from movement in thesecircumstances by virtue of the pressure of the roller 29' holding itagainst the stationary roller 29.

Engagement of the second clutch 42 couples drive from the motor 26 torotate two cams 43 and 44. Rotation of the cam 43 acts via a mechanicalconnection 45 to depress a stop 46 into the guideway 16 behind theroller 29', and following this to raise the roller 29' from the card.The raising of the roller 29 releases the pressure holding the card onthe roller 29, and thereby allows the spring 40, acting via the plunger39, to urge the card backwardly through the card reader 17 until itabuts the depressed stop 46. Rotation of the cam 43 also acts via amechanical connection 47 to lower the head 38 towards the bed 37. Finalclosure of the card reader 17, with the card held firmly between thehead 38 and bed 37, takes place with sufficient interval after theraising of the roller 29 to allow the card to have moved backwardly toabut the stop 46. In this position the card is correctly located in thecard reader 17 for reading.

The cam 44, driven with the cam 43 through the clutch 42, rotatesthrough an angular range of as the card reader 17 is closed. Twoelectrical switches 48 and 49 are associated with the cam 44, the switch48 to be actuated while the cam 44 is positioned at the beginning ofthis angular range, and the switch 49 to be actuated at the end of therange. Actuation of the switch 49 is indicative of the condition inwhich the card reader 17 is fully closed, whereas actuation of theswitch 48 is taken as being indicative of the condition in which thecard reader 17 is open. The switch 49 while actuated by the cam 44,supplies an electric signal to the clutch 42 and, via a lead 50, to aprogramming unit 51 (FIG. 3). The application to the clutch 42 of theleading edge of this signal is effective to disengage the clutch 42 andthereby arrest further rotation of the cams 43 and 44. In theprogramming unit 51, the signal is effective to start operation of atimer (not shown), to cause illumination of a second sign (not shown) onthe facia l0, and to provide a signal signifying that the card is inposition in the card reader 17, the existence of this latter signalbeing (as explained later) an essential for release of the dispenser todispense a packet of banknotes. The second sign on the facia 10signifies ENTER PERSONAL IDENTIFECATION NUMBER and illumination of thisdirects the customer to enter his appropriate personal identificationnumber using a set of ten pushbuttons 52 (only two of which are shown)mounted in four rows on the facia 10.

The personal identification number is in each case a decimal number ofsix digits. The ten pushbuttons 52 are accordingly numbered with the tendecimal digits 0 to 9 respectively, the six digits of the number beingentered in order operating one pushbutton 52 at a time. The six-digitnumber entered in this way is compared in the system with the six-digitpersonal identification number encoded on the card, the comparisonprocess being carried out digit by digit. In this latter respect,however, the encoding of the personal identification number on the cardinvolves N decimal numbers, each of six digits (where N is an integerlarger than unity). The sum of these N numbers taken without carry,constitutes the relevant personal identification number, (N-1) of theseconstituent numbers being chosen by a random selection process and theother being chosen to give the required sum. The N constituent numbersare represented on the card in a binarycoded decimal notation by thepresence and absence of holes 3, the positions on the card accorded tothe binary digits of the different N numbers being intermingled with oneanother according to a predetermined pattern. This reduces the risk ofthe personal identification number encoded on the card being deducedfrom the card along or from comparison with other cards.

In the present system the personal identification number is decoded fromthe card by an arithmetical operation which involves effectively theaddition together of the N binary-coded decimal numbers taking onedecimal place at a time and without effecting any carry from therelevant place to the next of higher significance. The values of thedecimal digits of the N numbers are read from the card in binary-codeddecimal notation by the card reader 17. The card reader 17 when closedupon the card, automatically supplies signals on leads 53 in accordancewith these values. The manner in which these signals are used in thesystem will now be described with reference to FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3, the signals on the leads 53 from the card reader 17are applied to a selector unit 54. Each decimal digit read from the cardis represented, according to the binary-coded decimal notation, by thesignals appearing on an individual group of four of the leads 53, therebeing in all 6N separate groups of four leads 53. The selector unit 54is operated under the control of two sequencing units 55 and 56 toselect the 6N groups of leads 53 in turn, and to apply the signals onthe four leads 53 of the selected group, to four output leads 57respectively. The sequencing units 55 and 56 are each formed by bistablestages connected in cascade, the unit 55 having (N 1) stages I to (N l)and the unit 56 seven stage I to VII. Each bistable stage has an ON, andan OFF, state, but at any one time only one stage in each unit 55 and 56is in the ON state. Inin'ally, before the customer depresses any of thepushbuttons 52, it is the stage (N l) of the unit 55, and the stage VIIof the unit 56, that are in the ON state.

The ten pushbuttons 52 marked to 9, control via ten individual switches58 the energization of ten input leads 59/0 to 59/9 respectively of acoding matrix 60. Depression of any one of the pushbuttons 52, with theconsequent actuation of the associated switch 58, energizes theappropriate one of the leads 59/0 to 59/9 to signal to the matrix 60 ofthe value of the decimal digit entered by the customer. The codingmatrix 60 in response to this supplies to four output leads 6! pulsesignals that together signify the value of this digit according tobinary-coded decimal notation. The matrix 60 in each case also suppliesto a fifth output lead 62, and thence to the programming unit 51, apulse signal signifying that a'digit has been entered. The programmingunit 51 is responsive to this latter pulse signal in the presence of thesignal on the lead 50, to supply a triggering pulse via leads 63 and 64to the units 55 and 56 respectively.

When, therefore, the customer responds to the illuminated sign ENTERPERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER, by depressing the pushbutton 52-appropriate to the first digit of his personal identification number,pulse signals signifying the value of this digit appear on the outputleads 61 of the matrix 60. These pulse signals are applied from theleads 61 to a register 65 to effect therein temporary storage of therelevant value in binary-coded decimal notation. The pulse signal thatalso appears on the output lead 62 of the matrix 60, on the other hand,results in the application of a triggering pulse to the sequencing units55 and 56 via the leads 63 and 64. Each unit 55 and 56 is responsive tothis first triggering pulse to adopt the condition in which its stage Iis in the ON state and all its other stages are in the OFF state. Inthese circumstances, signals representative of the first digit of afirst of the N constituent numbers that are read from the card in thecard reader 17, appear on the output leads 57 of the selector unit 54.These signals are applied to a register 66 to effect therein temporarystorage of the relevant value in binary-coded decimal notation.

The register 66 receives via a lead 67 a train of regularly recurringpulses supplied from the programming unit 51, and these pulses are usedtherein to count down to zero the value stored. Until the content of theregister 66 reaches zero, the pulses supplied via the lead 67 are gatedfrom the register 66 to a lead 68. The pulses appearing on the lead 68are accordingly in number equal to the first decimal digit of the firstconstituent number read from the card. These pulses are passed via thelead 68 to the register 65 where they each reduce by unity the contentof the register 65. Thus in the register 65 there is subtracted from thevalue of the first decimal digit entered by the customer, the value(stored by the register 66) of the firstdecimal digit of the first ofthe N constituent numbers that are read from the card. The subtractionprocess here is carried out as the equivalent of the addition to thecontent of the register 65 (in the scale often and without carry) of thetens-complement of the value stored by the register 66.

The programming unit 51, after it has supplied to the lead 67 a numberof pulses sufficient to ensure positively that the register 66 has beencounted down to zero (for example, after some I6 pulses have beensupplied), supplies another trigger ing pulse to the unit 55 (but not'tothe unit 56) via the lead 63. This triggering pulse switches stage I ofthe unit 55 to the OFF state and stage II to the ON state. In thesecircumstances signals that are representative of the value of the firstdigit of a second of the N constituent numbers read from the card,appear on the leads 57 to result in temporary storage of this value inbinary-coded decimal notation, in the register 66. As before, pulsessupplied to the register 66 via the lead 67 are gated to the lead 68until the content of the register 66 is counted down to zero. The pulsesgated to the lead 68, being in number equal to the value of the firstdigit of the second constituent number, effect the subtraction of thisvalve from the content of the register 65.

The programming unit 51 again supplies a triggering pulse via the lead63 to step the unit 55 on to the condition in which the next stage,stage III, is in the ON state. As a result, signals that arerepresentative of the first digit of a third constituent number readfrom the card, appear on the lead 57 to effect temporary storage of thisdigit in the register 66. The pulses gated to the lead 68 in countingdown to zero the content of the register 66, accordingly subtract thevalue of this digit from the content of the register 65.

The above process of subtracting the value of the first digit of aconstituent number from the content of the register 65 is carried out inturn for all the N constituent numbers on the card, the stages I to N ofthe unit 55 being switched to the ON state successively. After the valveof the first digit of the last, Nth, constituent number has beensubtracted from the content of the register 65, the programming unit 51again applies a triggering pulse to the unit 55 and this resets the unit55 to its initial condition in which stage (N l) is in the ON state. Theswitching of stage (N 1) to the ON state causes a pulse to be suppliedfrom the unit 55 and via a lead 69 to a gate 70 associated with theregister 65. The gate 70 is responsive to the state of the register 65,to pass this pulse on to a counter 7i only in the event that the valuestored in the register 65 at this time is zero. Clearly, the numberstored is zero only if the sum without carry, of the first digits of theN constituent numbers read from the card, is the same as the digitentered by the customer. There is no entry in the counter 71 in theevent that this equality does not exist, since in these circumstancesthe value stored in the register 65 is not zero.

The pulse supplied from the unit 55 on the lead 6.9 is also supplied tothe programming unit 51. The unit 51 is responsive to this pulse toapply to the register 65, via a lead 72 and after a short delay, a pulsesignal clearing the register 65. This ensures that the content of theregister 65 is positively returned to zero, in preparation for the entryby the customer of the next, second decimal digit of his personalidentification number.

When the customer depresses the pushbutton S2 appropriate to the seconddigit of his personal identification number, the resultant pulse signalson the output leads 61 of the matrix 60 cause entry of the valve of thisdigit into the register 65. In addition, the resultant pulse signal onthe lead 62 gives rise to a triggering pulse on both leads 63 and 64.The unit 55 is as a result set to the condition in which its stage I isin the ON state, whereas it is the stage II in the unit 56 that is nowset to this state. In these circumstances the signals appearing on theleads 57 are representative of the second decimal digit of the firstconstituent number read from the card. The value of this digit astemporarily stored and counted down in the register 66, is (by means ofthe pulses gated to the lead 68) subtracted from the value of digitstored by the register 65. Following this, the programming unit 5isupplies a triggering pulse via the lead 63 to set the unit 55 to thecondition in which its stage II is in the ON state, and the value of thesecond decimal digit of the second constituent number is then, in itsturn, subtracted from the content of the register 65. This process isrepeated, with the stages III to N of the unit 55 being broughtsuccessively to the ON state, to subtract in turn from the content ofthe register 65 the values of the second digits of the N constituentnumbers. The subsequent switching of the stage (N 1) to the ON state inthe unit 55, results in a pulse on the lead 69 and this, as before, ispassed via the gate 70 to the counter 71 only if the content of theregister 65 is then zero. The pulse on the lead 69 also, as before,results in the application to the register 65 via the lead 72 of aclearing signal in preparation for the entry by the customer of thethird digit of his personal identification number.

The operation of the system in response to the entry of the third digitof the personal identification number and then, in

turn, of the fourth to sixth digits, is substantially the same asdescribed above. Upon entry of the relevant digit the unit 55 is resetto the condition in which its stage I is in the ON state, whereas theunit 56 is stepped on to the condition in which the next of its sixstages I to V1 is in this state. Thus, in response to entry of thefourth to sixth digits in turn, the unit 56 is set successively toselect for reading out into the register 66 the values of the digits inthe fourth to sixth digital places respectively of the N constituentnumbers encoded on the card. While the unit 56 is set to select forreading out the values of the digits in any one of these digital places,the unit 55 is stepped on through the N states in which its stages I toN are successively in the ON state. The values of the digits in therelevant digital place in the N constituent numbers are therefore readout successively into the register 66, and are accordingly subtractedfrom the content of the register 65. After subtraction of these Nvalues, a pulse on the lead 69 is gated to the counter 71 by the gate 70only if the content of the register 65 is then zero.

When a pulse appears on the lead 69 following entry of the sixth digitof the personal identification number, the programming unit 51 suppliesto the lead 64 a triggering pulse to switch the stage VI! of the unit 56to the ON state. This switching to the ON state of the stage Vll causesa pulse to be supplied via a lead 73 to a gate 74 associated with thecounter 71. The gate 74 is responsive to the count of the counter 71 topass this pulse on to a dispenser interlock unit 75 only in the eventthat the count is six. Clearly, the count is six only if the six-digitpersonal identification number entered by the customer using thepushbuttons 52, is identical to the six-digit personal identificationnumber encoded on the card in the card reader 17.

The dispenser interlock unit 75 is operable to supply energizationcurrent via a lead 77 to the dispenser 76, so as thereby to release thedispenser 76 to dispense one packet of banknotes, in response to thepulse passed to the unit 75 by the gate 74. The operation of the unit 75in this respect is however inhibited while signals are absent fromeither or both of leads 34 and 78 connected to the unit 75. The lead 34is the output lead of the code recognition unit 33 (FIG. 2), and asignal appears on this lead 34 only if the card passed into the cardreader 17 has the magnetic recordings appropriate to an authentic card.A signal is supplied from the programming unit 51 to the lead 78, on theother hand, only while there is a signal on the lead 50, that is to say,only while the card reader 17 is closed upon a card. Thus it is only ifthe following three conditions are all satisfied that the dispenser 76is released: the card has the magnetic recordings appropriate to anauthentic card; the card reader 17 is closed upon a card; and thepersonal identification number entered manually by the customer is thesame as the personal identification number encoded on the card.

A gate 79 is responsive to the circumstances in which energizationcurrent is not supplied to the lead 77 following the pulse on the lead73, so as to provide a signal on a lead 80 signifying that the threeessential conditions have not all been satisfied. The programming unit51 is responsive to the pulse on the lead 80 to illuminate a third sign(not shown) on the facia (FIG. 2), this sign when illuminated directingthe customer to enter again his personal identification number (althoughof course the signal on the lead 80 may arise from a cause other thandifference between the number entered manually and the personalidentification number encoded on the card). At the same time theprogramming unit 51 clears the counter 71 to restore the system to thecondition existing just prior to the manual entry by the customer of hispersonal identification number. (The connections required within thesystem for initial clearing purposes are not shown in the drawings inthe interests of clarity.) The system operates in exactly the samemanner in response to the second entry of the personal identificationnumber by the customer, as to the first entry. If as a result of thesecond entry, the three essential conditions at the unit 75 are stillnot satisfied, the dispenser 76 is again not released and the customeris again directed to enter his personal identification number.Satisfaction of the three essential conditions at the unit 75 aftereither the second or third entry, results in release of the dispenser 76in the manner described above in relation to the first entry. However,if after the third entry the three conditions are still not allsatisfied, the transaction is treated as invalid, the unit 51 respondingto three successive pulses on the lead 89 to illuminate a fourth sign(not shown) on the facia 10 (FIG. 2) instead of said third sign. Thefourth sign when illuminated indicates to the customer that thetransaction is void and that his account will not be debited.

The programming unit 51 is responsive to the circumstances in whicheither energization current is supplied to the lead 77 or threesuccessive pulses are received on the lead 80, to supply a signal via alead 81 to reverse the motor 26 and reengage the clutch 42 (FIG. 2).This signal is applied to the lead 81 by the programming unit 51, andsaid fourth sign is illuminated, also in the event that the presetperiod of the timer (referred to above) in the unit 51 expires. Thislatter timer is set in operation by the leading edge of the signalapplied to the lead 50, and is preset to run for a period adequate toenable manual entry of the personal identification number three timesunder direction of the system. The appearance of energization current onthe lead 77, or of three successive pulses on the lead 80, before expiryof the preset period, automatically terminates operation of this timer.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the application to the lead 81 of the signalthat reverses the motor 26 and reengages the clutch 42, results in driveto the cams 43 and 44 rotating them back to their original angularpositions. Accordingly, the roller 29' is lowered to hold the cardagainst the stationary roller 29, and the stop 46 is then raised. Thehead 38 is raised so as to open the card reader 17, and the switch 48,instead of the switch 49, is actuated. Actuation of the switch 48results in the supply of a pulse signal to disengage the clutch 42. Thissignal is also applied to a timer unit 82 that in response theretoreengages the clutch 24 for a preset period only. Reengagement of theclutch 24 couples the rollers 27 to 29 to the reversed motor 26 so thatthese are now rotated in their reverse senses opposite to the arrows F.The card between the rollers 29 and 29 is accordingly withdrawncompletely from the card reader 17. During withdrawal the card isdeflected by the spring 35 downwardly through the opening 36 to fallinto a suitably placed bin (not shown) so as t be retained within thesystem. The card is ultimately retrieved from the system by bank staffboth for accounting purposes and reissue to the appropriate customer. Inthose circumstances where a packet of banknotes is not dispensed, thatis to say, those circumstances in which for any reason three successivepulses are supplied to the unit 51 via the lead (FIG. 3), or the presetperiod of the timer in the unit 51 runsout, the card is marked tosignify this as it is being, or is about to be, withdrawn from the cardreader 17. To this end, an electromagnetically operated punch (notshown) may be arranged to be energized from the programming unit 51 ineither of these circumstances, the punch being located adjacent the step46 so as to punch a hole or notch in the card just prior to withdrawal.

When the preset period of the timer 82 runs out, a signal to this effectis passed from the timer 82 to the programming unit 51 via a lead 83.The unit 51 in response to this signal acts to prepare the system aswhole (for example, by switching OFF the unit 23 and resetting the unit33) for reception of another card at the mouth 11.

Provision may be made with the system for storing the personalidentification numbers of the individual cards already presented. Inthese circumstances, as each new card is presented a search of thestored numbers may be made to discover whether the personalidentification number encoded on the newly presented card is alreadystored. Provision may then be made to allow the release of the dispenseronly in the event that the number encoded on the card is not alreadystored more than, say, twice.

Additionally, the signals derived in the system may be used in theprovision of automatic accounting and like processes in banking andcommerce.

With the form of customers card described above with reference to FIG.1, the. pulse recordings carried by the highcoercivity magnetic oxide ofthe coating 2 are masked by noise recorded in the low-coercivitymagnetic oxide. Although the use of magnetic masking in this wayprovides an element of security it is certainly not an essential. Inthis latter respect, the coating 2 of the customers card may consist ofhigh-coercivity magnetic oxide alone, the pulse recordings beingrecorded in this material and being read by the head 31 in checking theauthenticity of the card, as before. Although no masking is used inthese circumstances, the magnetic recording head 30 is preferablyretained and energized with alternating current as before, since thisensures that a card cannot satisfy the authenticity check unless itcarries magnetic material of sufficiently high coercivity. This applieswhether or not the magnetic material on the card carries pulserecordings that would otherwise satisfy the check, since the action ofthe head 30 is to erase any recorded signal from material having acoercivity less than the predetermined, high value.

We claim:

1. Access-control equipment for selectively enabling access to afacility, comprising first means for receiving a coded token presentedto the equipment and for reading from the received token a plurality ofnumbers encoded thereon, second means for entering separately into theequipment a further number, third means that is selectively operable forenabling access to said facility, and fourth means for comparingeffectively the numerical result of a predetermined arithmeticaloperation involving said numbers read from the token with the saidfurther number entered into the equipment, said fourth means includingarithmetic means for computing said numerical result by interaction uponone another of the said numbers read from the token according topredetermined arithmetical rules, and means to operate said third meansas aforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondenceexists between said numerical result and said further number;

2. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said arithmeticmeans is means for computing the numerical result of an additivecombination of the numbers read from the token, and said fourth meansfurther includes means for comparing effectively the numerical result of(an) said additive combination (of the numbers read from the token,)with the said further number.

3. Access-control equipment for selectively enabling access to afacility, comprising first means for receiving a coded token presentedto the equipment and for reading form the received token a plurality ofnumbers encoded thereon, second means for entering into the equipment afurther number, third means that is selectively operable for enablingaccess to said facility, and fourth means for comparing effectively thenumerical result of a predetermined additive combination of the saidnumbers read from the token with the said further number entered intothe equipment, said additive combination being summation without carryof the numbers read from the token, and said fourth means includingmeans to operate said third means as aforesaid in dependence uponwhether a predetermined correspondence exists between said numericalresult and said further number.

4. Access-control equipment for selectively enabling access to afacility, comprising first means for receiving a coded token presentedto the equipment and for reading from the received token a plurality ofnumbers encoded thereon, second means for entering into the equipment afurther number, third means that is selectively operable for enablingaccess to said facility, and fourth means for comparing effectively thenumerical result of a predetermined additive combination of said numbersread from the token with the said further number entered into theequipment, said fourth means including means for operating said thirdmeans as aforesaid only in the event that said further number is thesame as the numerical result of said additive combination.

5. Access-control equipment according to claim 4 wherein said fourthmeans includes means for subtracting said numerical result and saidfurther number from one another, and means for operating said thirdmeans only in the event that the result of the subtraction is zero.

6. Access-control equipment according to claim 3 wherein said firstmeans is means for reading from the coded token plural digit numbersencoded thereon, said second means is means for entering a plural digitnumber into the equipment, and said fourth means is means for comparingdigit by digit said plural digit number entered by said second meanswith the numerical result of said summation without carry of the numbersread from the token.

7. Access-control equipment according to claim 6 including means forreading from the coded token N decimal numbers each of M digits, where Mand N, which may be equal, are both integers greater than unity, meansfor entering into the equipment an M-digit decimal number one digit at atime in ordered sequence, means for performing in respect of each of theM entered digits a subtraction process in which there is subtracted formthe value of the relevant entered digit the values of N decimal digitsthat in the N decimal numbers respectively occupy one and the samedigital place, the particular one of the digital places concerned beingdependent upon the order in said sequence of the entered digit, andmeans for operating said third means only in the event that the resultof each of the M subtraction processes is zero.

8. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said secondmeans includes manually-operable means for entering the said furthernumber into the equipment, the particular number entered being dependentupon manual selection.

9. Access-control equipment according to claim 8 wherein said manuallyoperable means includes a set of ten manually operable keys that areoperable selectively to enter into the equipment decimal digits 0 to 9respectively.

10. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 including means fordetecting whether the received token has a predetermined characteristic,said predetermined characteristic being a characteristic indicative, atleast partly, of authenticity of the token, and means operative toinhibit operation of said third means in the event that saidpredetermined characteristic is not detected.

11. Access-control equipment according to claim 10 wherein saidpredetermined characteristic is a magnetic characteristic.

12. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 including erasuremeans for submitting the received token to a magnetic erasure process,the erasure process erasing magnetic recording from any magneticmaterial having less than a predetermined coercivity submitted to thatprocess, detecting means for detecting magnetic recording remaining onthe token after the token has been submitted to the erasure process, andmeans operative to inhibit operation of said third means in the eventthat a magnetic recording is not detected by said detecting means.

13. Access-control equipment according to claim 12 including means forreading magnetic pulse recordings from the received token, means forproviding a count of the pulses read from the token, and means operativeto inhibit operation of said third means in the event that said countdiffers from a predetermined number.

14. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 wherein said firstmeans includes token entry means providing an entrance to the equipmentfor a token entry token, token reading means spaced form said entrance,and a token transport arrangement for transporting to said token readingmeans any token admitted to the equipment through said entrance, saidtoken reading means being means for reading numbers from the tokentransported thereto by said token transport arrangement.

15. Access-control equipment according to claim 14 wherein said tokenentry means includes a shutter device for blocking entry through saidentrance of a token presented to the equipment, means for detectingwhether a token presented to the equipment at said entrance has apredetermined characteristic, and means for displacing said shutterdevice to admit the token through said entrance only in the event thatthis predetermined characteristic is detected.

16. Access-control equipment according to claim 1 in combination with anitem-dispenser for dispensing items in response to each operation ofsaid third means.

17. An item-dispensing system comprising means for receiving a codedtoken presented to the system and for reading from the received token aplurality of plural digit numbers encoded thereon, means which isoperable manually for separately entering into the system a furtherplural digit number, the particular number entered being dependent uponmanual selection, item-dispensing means which is selectively operable todispense from a reserve of items at least one such item upon eachoperation of the item-dispensing means, and comparison means forcomparing effectively with the said further number entered into thesystem the numerical result of a predetermined arithmetical computation(operation) involving interaction upon one another of the said pluraldigit numbers read from the token (with the said number entered into thesystem), said comparison means including means for operating saiditem-dispensing means to dispense at least one of said items asaforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondenceexists between said numerical result and said further number enteredinto the system.

18. An item-dispensing system comprising means for receiving a codedtoken presented to the system and for reading from the received token aplurality of plural digit numbers encoded thereon, means which isoperable manually for entering into the system a plural digit number,the particular number entered being dependent upon manual selection,itemdispensing means which is selectively operable to dispense from areserve of items at least one such item upon each operation of theitem-dispensing means, and comparison means for comparing effectivelythe numerical result of a predetermined additive combination of the saidnumbers read from the token with the said number entered into thesystem, said comparison means including means for operating saiditem-dispensing means to dispense at least one of said items asaforesaid in dependence upon whether a predetermined correspondenceexists between said numerical result and said number entered into thesystem.

19. An item-dispensing system according to claim 18 wherein saidcomparison means includes means for comparing the manually enterednumber digit by digit with the numerical result of summation withoutcarry of the numbers read from the token.

20. An item-dispensing system according to claim 19 including tokenreading means for reading from the coded token N decimal numbers each ofM digits, where M and N, which may be equal, are both integers greaterthan unity, said manually operable means being means for entering intothe equipment an M-digit decimal number one digit at a time in orderedsequence, means for performing in respect of each of the M entereddigits a subtraction process in which there is subtracted from the valueof the relevant entered digit the values of N decimal digits that in theN decimal numbers respectively occupy one and the same digital place,the particular one of the digital places concerned being dependent uponthe order'in said sequence of the entered digit, and means for operatingsaid item-dispensing means only in the event that the result of each ofthe M subtraction processes is zero.

21. An item-dispensing system according to claim 20 including tokenentry means providing an entrance to the system for a coded token, saidtoken reading means being spaced from said entrance, a token transportarrangement for transporting along a path to said token reading meansany token admitted to the system through said entrance.

22. An item-dispensing system according to claim 21 wherein said tokenentry means includes a shutter device for blocking entry through saidentrance of a token presented to the system, means for detecting whethera token presented to the system at said entrance has a predeterminedcharacteristic, and means for displacing said shutter device to admitthe token through said entrance only in the event that the predeterminedcharacteristic is detected.

23. An item-dispensing system according to claim 21 including a magneticreading head positioned along said path for detecting magnetic recordingon the token, and means operative to inhibit operation of saiditem-dispensing means in the event that magnetic recording is notdetected by the reading head.

24. An item-dispensing system according to claim 23 including a devicepositioned along said path at a point in advance of the reading head,for erasing magnetic recording from magnetic material having less than apredetermined coercivity passing that point.

25. An item-dispensing system according to claim 17 wherein saidmanually operable means includes a set of ten manually operable keysthat are operable selectively to enter into the equipment decimal digits0 to 9 respectively.

26. In a bank, an item-dispensing system according to claim 17 fordispensing packets of money.

